The Mind Cage (17th Doctor)
by thetenthhour
Summary: The 17th Doctor finds himself in a perplexing situation, when old foes begin to resurface. The Doctor must try to separate reality from fantasy, as he seems to get thrown across the plains of reality, and even into his own mind plain. How will he survive?
1. Prologue

This didn't make any logical sense. Well, not to the Timelord at least. Though he tried to process these events, from start to finish, in perfect logical order, he still just couldn't figure it out. How did he get from here, to there? The thoughts of ordering the events just seemed to escape from him, the shock of all the events just sort of just moving away from him, no matter how hard he had tried to grasp onto them, they just fluttered away like frightened butterflies.

He needed to calm down. His breathing escelated to a very high level. He just couldn't seem to figure it out. No equation or scientific explanation could figure it out. He took a deep breath, inhaling fresh oxygen. There was a copper taste in the air, acidic. He exhaled, through the mouth. The air feeling salty and bitter. The timelord inspected himself. Denim jacket, torn black cargo pants. Fingerless cloves wrapped tightly around his hands, making them warmer. He wore some sneakers, all white, like a marble.

He was sweating, his brown hair and hazel eyes shook lightly as he was drenched in the cold liquid, which only provided discomfort. He wiped his sweat and shook it, some of the water droplets catching onto his bright scarlet neck-bandana, and black undershirt.

he clicked something, his thumb pulling back the hammer of an old pistol. He realized exactly what he was holding. He snapped back into reality as he tried to remember why he was holding a weapon, something he vowed NEVER to grasp, not since his tenth incarnation had broken the rule again.

He recollected his thoughts, once again trying to recap.

 _How did he get here?_


	2. 1 - Cracking the code

It was time to recap the events leading up to then. Best start with the beginning of  
the day, no? The Doctor didn't sleep much. He stood in the central console room  
of The Tardis. His time machine, his trusty old ship that had stood by him through  
every single face. He tapped his chin, his arms suddenly crossing as he leaned against  
the handle rail on the edge of a large two step high grated platform. His console room  
heavily resembled the previous coral preset. However his conosle was just a tiny bit  
more neater then the preset. He also had a collection of books and snacks scattered through  
out the console room. Along with the books, The Doctor had a few partially constructed  
machine parts. He blinked at some. A vortex manipulator was plugged into the console,  
wires seemingly coming out of every port in the soft leathery wrist device. He tapped his  
foot as he had his arms crossed.

Time was a very cruel mistress. It had a sadistic streak when it came to the Doctor.  
The timelord had almost next to no patience when it came to stuff like this. He took  
a longer sigh. Time to recollect his thoughts. He began to preform temporal equations  
to pass the time, closing his eyes to map everything out mentally, and preform it that way.

This incarnation was usually such a happy guy. Most of his former companions had dubbed  
him as 'The happy hippie'.

But he wasn't very happy today.

He was all alone today. He strode over to the console and tapped at some switches and  
buttons. The scan on the vortex manipulator had to be done. He had picked it up in quite  
a particular situation. See, he was enjoying a peaceful day on the eye of orion, the most  
relaxing place in all of the multiverse, the grass there was so green and comfortable, it  
felt like a bed. Sometimes The Doctor could just end up sleeping and taking long naps there.  
However on his latest endevour to the eye of Orion, he had stumbled across the vortex  
manipulator.

Finally! The device had finished scanning! He unplugged it from it's craddle on the tardis  
console.

"Lovely."

The british alien tapped at it as he scrambled his jacket's pockets, the jacket was hung neatly  
on the Tardis coat rack. He pulled out his Sonic screwdriver, a long cylindrical steel device.  
A singular button on a sliding mechanism, with a red light at the end, and a black endcap.  
He reached in the pocket for his glasses. Honestly the glasses did nothing for him, he wasn't  
blind, and didn't need reading glasses.

They just made him look smart. He loved it. His sad little ego needed a boost.

He veiwed the monitor as he plugged a wire from the console into the back of the sonic  
screwdriver. He then began to point it at the manipulator, the red light flashing as the  
screwdriver made a quiet buzzing sound. He rasied an eyebrow.

"Ah, so our mystery time traveller's been busy. They've scrambled the past location list, but  
it's nothing I can't get past. I mean, have you even met me?"

The Doctor perked his head up. When he realized he wasn't talking to anyone, his smile of  
self-approval had faded. He let out a sigh as he tapped at the switches on the console. He  
rythmically hummed a quiet hum as he unplugged the screwdriver from the console and slid  
it into his pants pocket.

"Really, there's only one way to unscramble this thing...I assume I could get it done, but  
these coordiantes don't make any sense."

The Doctor quietly adjusted his glasses as he inspected mysterious vortex manipulator closer.  
The Vortex manipulator was a smaller more compact time machine, strapped to the wrist.  
It wasn't made by the timelords, but whoever made it did a terrible job. At least that's what the doctor thought.  
He never liked vortex manipulators, so sloppy, so messy. In his eyes, all a time traveller  
needed was a good old Tardis. He patted his console lovingly.

"Right then old girl, we might as well start following the coordinate list. I'm assuming  
you can get us there..."

The tardis hum remained the same, the doctor frowning slightly. He grabbed his denim jacket and gloves, putting each on quickly. He tightened his gloves around his hand, closing his  
fingers around his palm as he stretched his hand.

He got a little excited! Maybe too excited for his own good. He hadn't had a good adventure  
in awhile! Travelling by himself was always so boring. He grinned wildly as he rushed madly  
around the console, tapping and pushing buttons. The Tardis making various sounds in  
response to it's controls being activated. The Doctor finally ended his little show by  
flicking the departure lever.

The Tardis's cylindrical rotor began to move up and down, as the ship adjusted it's positon  
in the Time vortex to the difficultly deciphered coordinates. The Doctor pulled various swithes and levers. 

"Upwards and onwards old girl!"


End file.
